Kingdom Hearts: Descent from Darkness
by ThatLoneAvenger
Summary: Years before the events of Birth by Sleep, Xehanort acted as Master to ANOTHER apprentice: Nox, a Keyblade wielder with the powers of darkness, was tasked with restoring the balance of light and darkness in the World. But as the secrets of his origins slowly begin to unravel, can he find it in himself to embrace the light, or will he only be cast back into the darkness...?


**Chapter 1: "A Key in the Dark"**

* * *

The black-coated man's footsteps were silent against the barely-visible ground as he stepped out of the portal, entering into the Dark Corridor.

He stood at an average height, though he was most likely taller than his appearance let on, given his hunched stance. He kept both of his arms wrapped around his back, where his hands were clasped together to hold them in place. The only other notable articles of clothing on him besides his coat were corresponding pairs of black gloves and boots that adorned his hands and feet, respectively. Beneath his raised hood, all one could make out was a dark-skinned chin with a wispy, silver goatee protruding from the end of it.

As the black portal behind the man faded away, he took a moment to dart his amber eyes back and forth to scope out his surroundings: laid before him were dark, veiny paths of corruptive purple that looked as though they continued on endlessly. Above him, he could see a warped sky of a similar color, perpetuating a feeling of malice in the air.

The man's nose crinkled as he sniffed the air. The scent of darkness was as strong as it always was here, but there was something off to it: as though there were something... missing.

He continued sniffing for another moment before realizing what it was: he couldn't detect any trace of nearby Heartless—the emotionless, shadow-like figures that hearts of corrupted darkness took form as. Normally, when he entered the Dark Corridor to traverse between the worlds, the man would be quickly swarmed by a horde of the shadowy figures that dwelled within the realm. So to arrive without any kind of welcoming party waiting to ambush him was different; almost to a concerning degree.

He began to pace forward, attempting to sniff out a scent as he pondered what the lack of Heartless meant. Their instinctive behavior should have attracted them to the man, who was bathed with the scent of the Realm of Light that they relished in extinguishing. So the fact that they had not already arrived to try and attack him meant only one of two things: something—or someone—had already come along and scared them off, or defeated them.

_Perhaps what I came here seeking has already made its presence known…_

He took a few more steps forward as his nose continued to twitch, trying to determine which direction he should walk in. He turned his head left, but there was no scent. He turned his head right; suddenly, a familiar smell reached his nose: the smell of Heartless.

The man now turned himself to face the direction he'd last glanced in and started walking; the faint, Heartless scent acting as his guide throughout the tenebrous realm.

* * *

**_\- 24 Hours Earlier -_**

_"Xehanort, are you there?"_ a man's voice spoke through the Crystal of Conveyance mounted on the wall in Xehanort's study.

"Eraqus," Xehanort said as he walked to stand before the shimmering jewel that his friend's voice was echoing from. "What a pleasant surprise to hear from you, my old friend."

_"I only wish it were under better circumstances,"_ Eraqus lamented. _"But I'm afraid I bear ill tidings from Master Yen Sid, who requested that I pass this news on to you."_

Xehanort raised a curious eyebrow. "Ill tidings, you say?"

_"He has sensed that a new force of darkness has appeared in our realm,"_ Eraqus explained, _"something that appears to be traveling across numerous worlds, eliminating Heartless as it goes."_

Xehanort's brow furled. "I'm afraid I fail to see what's so worrisome," he said. "As Keyblade Masters ourselves, do we not want the Heartless slain? What's so wrong in allowing something else to do it?"

_"Because, according to Yen Sid, this new being is as much darkness as any Heartless is,"_ was Eraqus's reply. _"And more alarmingly, he has sensed that this being also possesses a Keyblade."_

Xehanort's eyes narrowed. "A Keyblade, you say..." he repeated, "in the hands of a dark being?"

_"Yes,"_ Eraqus confirmed. _"He fears it may be one of the Keyblades of Darkness—one forged within the Dark Realm itself, as described in legend. If this is the case, there's no telling what it might be capable of; much less what its wielder might be capable of doing _with_ it."_

Xehanort remained silent for a time as he pondered Eraqus's words. _A Keyblade of Darkness... could this be the opportunity I've been waiting for, to restore balance to all the worlds...?_

_"Xehanort?"_

The old man snapped out of his thoughts. "Yes, Eraqus?"

_"Yen Sid has instructed me that, should we come across this being, it is to be eliminated immediately,"_ said Eraqus. _"We cannot allow whatever this is to roam free in the Realm of Light without knowing what it might do."_

"Understood," Xehanort acknowledged.

There was a short moment of silence between the two. Then Eraqus spoke up again:

_"Xehanort... please do not let your thirst for knowledge blind you to the threat this being could possess."_

"Eraqus, you sting an old man with your words," said Xehanort as he held a fist up to his heart. "I know my duties as a Keyblade Master."

_"I know you do. I just don't want to see you lose yourself to the darkness in your obsession."_

"You have no reason to fear, old friend," Xehanort assured him. "I must go now; but thank you for passing this information on to me."

_"Of course,"_ said Eraqus. _"Until our next meeting, then."_

"Yes," Xehanort replied. "Farewell."

The glow of the Crystal of Conveyance faded away as Xehanort turned on his heel, pacing back to his seat at the large table in the center of the room. As he sat himself down in his tall, black chair, his hand moved to cup his chin thoughtfully; a devious smile spreading across his lips as his mind began constructing a plan...

* * *

**_\- Present Day -_**

The scent of the Heartless grew stronger with each step Xehanort took along the walkways of the Dark Corridor.

He couldn't help but feel somewhat lonesome as he quietly walked down the path. By now, he estimated that he would have slain at least a hundred Heartless after so long of a trek; but his complete solitude throughout the passing time made his mind feel like time's flow was being prolonged.

Suddenly, he came to a stop. The Heartless scent had disappeared, and his instinct—honed through decades of combat and training—was telling him that he was no longer alone. He felt as though the gaze of a predator was upon him, watching its prey as it waited for the perfect moment to strike.

He subtly opened the palm of his right hand, summoning to it his black, demonic-looking Keyblade as he glared into the surrounding darkness, looking for the presence he was sensing. He could not help but feel somewhat unnerved, as he was not used to feeling like the prey in the eyes of another hunter.

He then heard a swift motion from behind him, prompting him to turn swiftly as he raised his Keyblade, ready to parry an oncoming attack. But when his eyes met where he'd heard the sound, he was surprised to see nothing there.

His eyes went wide as instinct took over him again, causing him to flash-step some ten feet away as something came down from above where he had been standing. The impact of the thing's landing emanated a shockwave of energy that forced Xehanort to flinch, but he stood his ground, not allowing the momentary burst to knock him down.

As the quaking ground beneath him returned to a still state, Xehanort was able to get a momentary glimpse of what had tried to strike him down: before him stood a male, humanoid figure in a crouched battle stance, with black and wild hair that looked as though it had been on the receiving end of countless Heartless claws. Trailing wisps of darkness emanated from the figure's blackened skin, and its yellow, soulless eyes seemed to flicker as it glared at him. The figure was clad in nothing, save for what looked to be a pair of heavily tattered, gray cargo shorts. At full height, it stood at about 5'5".

However, the detail that caught Xehanort's interest was the weapon in the figure's hand: a Keyblade with a round, jagged black handguard around the weapon's golden hilt, with a dark-red blade that protruded outwards. At the high end of the blade, the "teeth" that made the weapon a "Keyblade" was a crescent moon of pitch black. Beneath the hilt dangled a small chain with a black crescent moon with dark-red highlights.

_Could that be the Keyblade of Darkness?_

Xehanort was quickly snapped out of his thought when he noticed the dark figure beginning to charge swiftly towards him. Raising his own Keyblade, Xehanort aimed and unleashed his Dark Volley: a barrage of large, trailing orbs of darkness firing from the tip of his weapon. But this was to no avail; the figure proceeded to slide beneath the first barrage of shots, before leaping up and acrobatically twisting between the shots of the second and third waves of the shotlock attack.

As the figure inched dangerously closer to him, Xehanort quickly brought up his Keyblade to block its second attempt at an overhead strike. While it was not the strongest attack he had ever pushed back against, the figure's strength was comparable to some of the stronger foes he had faced in his lifetime.

_This battle style is entirely instinctive; animalistic, even,_ Xehanort observed as the figure's glaring eyes stared into his own golden orbs. _Much like that of a Heartless..._

Xehanort pushed back to parry the attack, before taking a swipe at the figure's legs to trip it. But as he did so, the figure simply jumped up, avoiding the swing altogether.

But this was exactly what Xehanort had anticipated: without a second wasted, he quickly reached out with his free arm to grab the enemy by one of its legs, resulting in the latter letting out a deep, confused grunt as Xehanort began to spin himself, building momentum before flinging the figure back down the Dark Corridor's pathway at rapid speed.

However, this proved to be a meaningless effort as well. The figure dug its bare feet into the pitch-black ground beneath him, helping to bring it to a stop before proceeding to launch its own Keyblade towards Xehanort at a speed so fast, he would have been struck for sure if he had blinked. He quickly raised his Keyblade to parry the weapon, sending it flying away from him so that it landed somewhere nearby.

In the moment that he had taken to glance to where he thought the Keyblade of Darkness had fallen, he did not notice until it was nearly too late that the figure was now charging at him again, roaring with a monstrous fury as it launched itself into the air, spiraling towards the old man with its black claws reaching out towards him.

But Xehanort was still faster: in the moment where the figure was just about to strike him, he managed to sidestep it before using the bottom of his own Keyblade's hilt to deal a blow to the back of the figure's head, sending it face-first into the ground with a crash that sent a slight tremor throughout the Dark Corridor.

Xehanort took a moment of pause to catch his breath as he looked down at the enemy that had assailed him. The being laid still, as though the shock from the hit it had taken to the back of its head had either sent its system into shock, or had killed it.

He raised one of his feet and used it to roll the body of the figure onto its back. Its ominous, glowing eyes were closed, and the face beneath the ragged, black hair looked more human than when Xehanort had first laid eyes on it.

Xehanort let out an impassive grunt. _What a waste of time,_ he thought as his own Keyblade disappeared from his hand, before turning to look once more for where the Keyblade of Darkness had landed.

He spotted it lying only a few yards away from where he stood. He calmly strode towards it with a renewed sense of purpose in his step, eager to take into his hands the weapon that he had come to claim.

He stopped before the black and red Keyblade on the ground before him, kneeling as he stretched his arm out to grab hold of the weapon. But unbeknownst to him, as his hand neared the Keyblade's grip, the eyes of the dark figure behind him had snapped open before stretching its arm out towards its distant weapon. Then, just as the Keyblade was about to be within Xehanort's grasp, it suddenly vanished in a flash of darkness.

_What?_ Xehanort's mind raced to process what had happened, before swiftly turning again towards the figure: there it was, standing with its Keyblade back in hand. The wispy trails of darkness that were emanating from its blackened skin seemed wider, and more intimidating than they had been before; and the narrowed, glowing eyes seemed to flare even more fiercely.

_That technique,_ Xehanort pondered as he replayed in his mind how the Keyblade of Darkness had disappeared before his eyes, having been re-summoned to the figure's hand. _No creature of the darkness could ever master such a feat... only a true Keyblade wielder—_

His thoughts were interrupted when, in what seemed like an instant, he sensed that his enemy had suddenly moved to behind him. Xehanort quickly summoned his Keyblade back to his hand as he turned to barely parry the oncoming strike the figure had tried to land in his back.

Now the figure advanced, putting Xehanort on the defensive as he began stepping backwards, barely able to deflect the skillfully rapid attacks that the figure was unleashing against him. He tried to find an opening in its tactics that he could exploit to either counterattack or flash-step away, but the onslaught this opponent was waging made it difficult for even his brilliant mind to calculate a way out of this.

As he and the figure clashed, Xehanort could feel his energy beginning to deplete as the figure's raw power and speed began to overwhelm him with each frenzied strike. His old, weakened body would not be able to deflect these attacks for much longer; otherwise, he expected that there was a chance that his life might just come to an end at the hands of this creature of the dark.

But then, out of sheer luck, Xehanort found reprieve from the constant attacks the moment he felt a familiar tugging sensation on his Keyblade that he had not felt since his early days training with Eraqus in the Land of Departure—the feeling of another Keyblade having been snagged by the sharp curves of his own.

With this new opportunity, Xehanort acted swiftly: with a grunt, he used all of his strength to pull his Keyblade up, dragging the figure through the air with it as he spun in a half-circle, before slinging the figure away from him again in order to gain some breathing room.

As Xehanort regained his composure, his gaze darted to watch as the figure once again landed a good distance away from him. Its posture had become somewhat slouched, and its arms looked like they were drooping; indicating that the figure had used up quite a bit of its own energy after that last set of flurried attacks.

Still, Xehanort kept his guard up. His instinct was telling him that the end of this battle was drawing near; which meant that no matter how fatigued his enemy seemed, he knew that there was a strength stirring within the figure that was either going to destroy him, or result in its own downfall.

Sure enough, the figure then proceeded to suddenly raise its Keyblade into the air, looking as though it were gathering as much strength as it could for an attack as it began to growl. Then, before Xehanort could piece together what it was doing, the figure let out an empowered cry as it swung its Keyblade down with a motion that struck the ground so intensely, the entirety of the Dark Corridor trembled as an enormous blast of dark-blue energy shot towards Xehanort, splitting through the ground beneath their feet as it made its way towards its target.

But Xehanort stood his ground, holding his Keyblade casually as he eyed the explosive energy shooting towards him, closing in quicker and quicker with each second that he allowed to pass. Then, at nearly the last second, he raised up his other arm; his fingers curled upwards as he willed the dark ground before him to rise. Sure enough, a large pillar of the dark matter that composed the ground rose before him, atop which the figure's energy blast dissipated as soon as it reached the pillar's edge. Within seconds, it split into two halves due to the fissure that had been engraved into it by the energy blast, falling away from each other as they tumbled into the veils of darkness on either side of the Dark Corridor's path.

As the gap between the two pillar halves widened, Xehanort could once again see the dark figure that had just tried to destroy him: it was standing still, looking as though it were watching what was happening with shock, trying to process how its foe had enough power to dispel its most powerful attack entirely.

_I have him now!_

Xehanort took up his Keyblade, moving it to his side as though preparing to unleash a wide swinging attack. Then, before the figure could even hazard a guess at what he was doing, Xehanort was suddenly behind the creature, his Keyblade arm outstretched as if he had swung his weapon. At the same time, the figure let out a choked gasp as it fell to its knees, before keeling over onto its back as its Keyblade disappeared from his hand. Its head hit the ground of the Dark Corridor with a thud, and the last of the glowing light in its yellow eyes was extinguished as its lids fluttered shut once more.

Xehanort lowered his Keyblade arm, before turning to face the enemy he had just defeated with a Zantetsuken attack. But what met his eyes when he glanced at the figure came as an ultimate surprise to him: the figure's blackened skin was slowly beginning to change, turning to a bronze tone just a little lighter than his own. His pitch-black hair also underwent a transformation, shortening itself down so it was no longer wildly strewn about, but rather just barely reached the bottom of his neck, and his bangs draped over his face.

Xehanort's eyes narrowed in observation as he watched the figure's transformation back into a human. _As I thought,_ he realized, _this was no ordinary creature of the darkness..._

His eyes flickered over to the young boy's hand that had been holding the Keyblade of Darkness that he sought. It was clear that this boy and that Keyblade were bound to each other, making it impossible for Xehanort to take the Keyblade for himself like he had originally intended.

But... this struck him with an idea. After all, the boy had proven himself to be rather adept with his Keyblade. And his bond with the darkness was certainly a strong one with the immense power that he had in his Heartless-like form—a power that he could definitely use to his advantage.

In other words, if Xehanort could not harness the Keyblade of Darkness to restore the balance of light and darkness to the Worlds... then perhaps this boy could.

With his mind made up, Xehanort's Keyblade disappeared from his hand before he knelt, wrapped an arm around the waist of the unconscious youth, and stood up again with the boy hanging limply in his grasp. Then, using his remaining empty hand, he summoned another black vortex which would return him to the Realm of Light, and proceeded to pass through it, disappearing beyond the black veil.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

_Hey-o, everybody! ThatLoneAvenger here, and I just wanna thank all of you who got down to this point for reading the first chapter of my first-ever KH fic! Going forward: if you guys liked what you read and wanna read more, hit up that follow button! And if you really enjoyed what you saw, why not give it a favorite? And above all else, PLEASE leave reviews so I can hear what y'all think! It's the best way to keep me motivated and help me improve._

_Now, if any of you are thinking, "where have I seen this fic before?" Well, it's because you might've back in December of 2017. That's when I first published this chapter originally... where it flopped terrifically in that no one seemed to see it. So, given I was investing more time in my original Yu-Gi-Oh! story anyway (which you should totally go check out if you're into that too), as well as the fact that I didn't quite have a perfect vision on where to drive this work yet, I decided to pull it until I felt the time was right._

_So here we are almost 2 years later. KH3 is out, and I kinda just need to get away from my YGO fic for a bit, and I finally have an idea of where I want this to go... for the most part. At the very least it's enough to get it across the finish line._

_I also wanna take a moment to give some special thanks to the dude who made this story possible: HolyMage Mouto. He's been my longtime supporter and friend for as long as I've been on this site, and gave me the ideas that I believe will REALLY make this story awesome and epic. And when I don't know what I'm doing writing this out, I can always count on him to take the wheel and guide it in the right direction. That said, I'll turn it over to him to say a few words as well before we sign off:_

**_HolyMage Mouto:_**_ Sorry for the delay. Life, the release of KH3 (which I still need to get off my lazy ass to play, screw beating the other games before playing it!), and Fire Emblem Three Houses meant it got sidetracked. Anyways, hope you all enjoy yourselves as me and ThatLoneAvenger worked hard to get this written. Ye Olde Keyblade Masters._

_Okay, that's all we've got! We'll see you in the next chapter, whenever that might be. Like I mentioned earlier, if you wanna check out my YGO fic, please feel encouraged to do so! And give HMM's work some love too; he does YGO as well as a few other anime fics!_

_Thanks again for reading everybody, and as always, stay awesome._


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